House Without Lies (Lily’s House Book 1)

by Rachel Branton

  “Okay. Tell her I’ll see her then. Tell her it’s for dinner.”

  “I’m sure she’ll love that.” My stomach growled at the thought. During the chaos today, I hadn’t even snagged a piece of pizza. I’d have to run by Tessa’s office to see if she had any food stashed in her desk.

  Jameson hadn’t hung up, so I hurried to say, “Thanks for the flowers.”

  He laughed. “Ah, the magic of flowers. Never fails.”

  “Right. Especially lilies. Remember that.”

  “Oh, I will.”

  “See you tonight.”

  When I arrived at the apartment, the living room looked surprisingly organized for a change. The blankets that were usually in mounds had been folded into a huge stack on the couch, and two more Walmart fold-out mattresses, like the ones in the bedroom, had been doubled into soft, distorted chairs. Ruth and Halla slept on those, while I used the couch, but often the other girls would crash with us instead of in the bedroom, if they fell asleep in front of the small television. That meant it normally looked like a bomb had gone off unless I was home to make everyone clean up.

  “I got the job!” Saffron grabbed me and twirled me around.

  “That’s great! When do you start?”

  “Monday.” She grinned and pulled her hand through her hair, the color a pale version of Tessa’s, which was how Saffron had chosen her nickname. No one called her Rosalyn, her real name, or she threatened to kill them.

  “I’m a little worried about clothing. I mean, I know it’s only a mall kiosk, but I need to look cool to sell things.” She looked at me pleadingly.

  I laughed. “Yes, you can borrow my clothes.” That was one thing I didn’t lack because every time I went home, my mother took me out shopping for whatever event she was throwing. Instead of protesting, I’d taken to buying things that were bigger or smaller than my real size, and then passing them on to the girls. Saffron was a good ten pounds thinner than I was—but it was close enough.

  “Can you help me with my hair that morning?”

  “Sure. I’ll even drop you off the first day, but you’ll have to buy the bus pass for the rest of the time.”

  “I stopped and bought a pass on the way home.” She laughed. “I can’t believe I’m going to be selling jewelry and scarves. Me! No more slinging hamburgers.”

  I didn’t remind her that her hamburger job had helped us with the down payment on this apartment, but I did remember how easily she’d offered, even though I knew she was saving up for a car.

  The white lilies on the kitchen counter caught my attention, and I leaned over to smell them. Anticipation tingled through me at the thought of seeing Jameson tonight. “Where are the girls?” I had a little over an hour before he was supposed to be here, and I needed to make sure they had dinner.

  “They took Nate to the park. Makay’s going to meet them there to pick him up. Don’t worry. Zoey and Bianca did their homework before Ruth let them go.” Saffron made a face. “Elsie stayed home, though. She’s in the bedroom. She’s acting funny.”

  “She had a scare this morning. I’d better go talk to her.” I hurried down the hall and opened the door slowly.

  Inside, I found the same organization that prevailed in the living room. The blankets were tucked nicely around the double mattress and also around the two fold-out beds. Today the path around the beds was perfectly clean.

  Elsie was curled on top of her blue fold-out mattress, the one I’d used before her arrival, her tangled hair fanned around her. A faded pink backpack that held most of her belongings sat near her flattened pillow, and she cuddled a small stuffed wolf I’d bought for her the day after I found her.

  I felt a momentary dismay that she had so little. How different from the way I’d grown up, surrounded by dolls, toys, stuffed animals, and electronic gadgets. I’d had thirty-one nail polishes that I rarely used, and even lip glosses to put into every one of the dozen purses my mother had bought for me.

  That’s not love, I reminded myself. Love had been Tessa reading to me every day for the two months I’d been sick during the year I was supposed to have started kindergarten.

  I went around to Elsie’s mattress and sat next to her. She opened her eyes, but she didn’t return my smile. “Is everything okay?” I asked.

  She nodded and scooted closer, which I took as an invitation to put my arm around her. She gave a soft sigh and let her head rest on my lap. Absently, I started smoothing her hair but stopped before she pulled away. Elsie’s hair desperately needed attention, but she refused to let anyone style it. While I believed she washed her head once a week, she never combed her hair or used conditioner, and her dark mane was nearly as frizzy as Ruth’s when it wasn’t in braids. The frizz didn’t look bad on Ruth, but on Elsie, it was all wrong.

  I stroked her cheek, so pale under the still-fading green bruises. I needed to get her out of the house and soon, before her reluctance became a phobia.

  “Is he coming here again?” she asked in a small voice. “Mario, I mean.”

  I tried to think of the best way to respond. I needed to know what was bothering her so much that she was curled here in a ball instead of out in the living room reading the books I’d borrowed at the library or watching her allotted television time. “Would that bother you?”

  She hesitated, giving a little sigh. “I don’t know. He was nice. But I’m afraid he’s going to find me.”

  “He?” Obviously, she didn’t mean Jameson. “Do you want to talk about him? About what happened before I found you?”

  She shook her head. “Do you like Mario?”

  “Well. He seems nice, and he promised he wouldn’t say anything about us. Is that what’s bothering you?”

  One shoulder lifted in a shrug.

  “It’s okay to feel that way after what you’ve been through, and I don’t know him myself that well yet, so I can’t say he’s a good person, but Payden says he is.”

  “I like Payden.”

  “So do I. You know, he asked after you today. I told him you might come with me on Friday.” We went every other day to pick up expired groceries, and telling her now gave her the rest of today and tomorrow to think about it.

  “Maybe.”

  “One important thing is that Jameson—or Mario, as everyone calls him—works with some therapists. They can help me become licensed so I can keep girls like you for real.”

  “You mean you’d be their guardian? Like you are for Zoey and Bianca?”

  “Even better. Guardianship basically just lets me put them in school and take care of them, but I don’t get money from the state or from their uncle. I’ve just been too happy for that much to push for anything else. I worry if the state tried to take them permanently from their uncle, he’d fight for them. Or the state might not place them with me, especially living in this little apartment. It’d be awful for Zoey and Bianca to have to start over again.”

  “It’s not bad here. I love it.”

  Once more, a deep sense of sadness filled me that having so little meant so much to her. While I wanted Elsie to feel safe, this wasn’t the dream I had for her and the others. No, I wanted more.

  “But if I meet someone where Mario works, someone we could trust, who can see that you’re safe with me and could maybe help us, it would be a good thing, right?”

  “What if they want to send me back?”

  She had the right to ask. “Well, I’m not saying I’d tell them about you right away. I’d want to feel them out, see what the policies are and everything. Then if I felt it was safe, I’d figure out things for Zoey and Bianca first, since they’re already with me officially. Then we’d go from there and figure out the rest.”

  “What if it doesn’t work?”

  “I have emergency money in the bank, and I’ll take you somewhere safe.”

  She knew this routine. We talked about it enough. “The park?”

  “The park bench by the big tree is just where we’ll meet, if we get separated. Then we’ll g
o to a hotel, or stay with Tessa or Makay. But I’ll be careful, I promise.”

  Elsie didn’t reply, but she appeared to be considering my words.

  I snuggled closer. “You know, my sister reminded me of something today. When I was even younger than you, we used to sit together in bed at night and talk about our dreams. And you know what my dream was?”

  Elsie twisted her neck to look up at me, her brown eyes eager. “What?”

  “A big house with a big yard. A house with tons of kids and more love than you could ever need. You could snuggle on the couch with your feet on it without anyone getting upset, and there would be a wall where we could put handprints or draw pictures, and someone would also be cooking something that tasted good, and we didn’t always have to eat all our vegetables before we had dessert. And when people got upset, everyone would hug them until they were happy again. No one would tell lies, but we’d make up plenty of fun stories to share. There would be lots of music and laughter. Oh, we’d still have to brush our teeth and do chores—we don’t want to live in a pigsty—but no one would yell about it. And if mud came in on our shoes, we’d just laugh and clean it up. We could sleep outside on the grass if we wanted and have a pit where we could roast marshmallows. We’d probably have pets too, just for fun. Maybe rabbits to make fertilizer in case we want a garden.”

  Elsie’s mouth opened in a laugh that didn’t quite escape her throat. “And no one would use belts for hitting, and I could eat as much cheese as I want. I like that.”

  My gut clenched at the belt comment, but I knew better than to pursue it. “So that’s what’s happening to all our cheese?” I started tickling her.

  She laughed aloud then, and hearing her made me happy.

  “But, Lily,” she said, her expression sobering, “we already have that all right here, don’t we? No one yells, and we get enough food, and even when the girls argue about jobs, they never hit.”

  I had to clamp my mouth hard for a moment not to burst into tears at how she saw things. “Well, I guess you’re right, except I want a few more rooms, and we can’t fit a horse in here yet.”

  She giggled. “A dog?”

  “The landlord won’t let us, but I bet I could find big sheets of paper to put on the wall for us to draw on.”

  We lay there quietly, thinking about that for a while. Then Elsie said, “So Mario might be able to help?”

  “I think so.”

  “You should try then.”

  I knew what it cost her to say it. I hugged her tighter.

  “Halla and Ruth said he was hot,” she added. “Do you think he’s hot?”

  “Whew! I’ll say.” I pretended to fan my face. “I’m thinking I might have to start carrying ice cubes in my pockets.”

  Elsie grinned again, making me feel like I’d won the lottery. “Everyone can tell he likes you, so maybe he’s the one who needs the ice.”

  I laughed. “Maybe so.” We heard a door shut, followed by voices. “Looks like the others are home, and I have to get dinner ready. I’ve got a date tonight.”

  “With hot guy?”

  “Yep, but let’s go start the tuna salad.” Makay had found tuna coupons that made the cans nearly free a few months ago, and we’d stocked up. Great source of protein, but I had to admit I was a little sick of tuna.

  I started the water boiling in the kitchen, put Ruth in charge of the noodles, and set Halla opening cans. Then I went to the bathroom and let Elsie comb my hair. I added a little lip gloss.

  “Do you think I should wear my pink blouse?” I asked her.

  “Yeah. You look really pretty in that.”

  After changing, I returned to the living room. Saffron tore her gaze away from the blaring television long enough to say, “You going somewhere? Because if you’re going out on a date, you need more makeup.”

  Next to her on the couch, sixteen-year-old Zoey looked up, shifting her bulk awkwardly. Her weight and the heavy makeup were a mask every bit as much Ruth’s layers of clothing.

  “Nope, she’s taking us to the art display tonight at school.” She said something in rapid Spanish to her too-thin sister, Bianca, who was a year younger but attended the same high school.

  Bianca nodded emphatically. “Yep, it’s tonight. We get extra credit for going.”

  That’s right. I’d completely forgotten. They each had a piece of pottery on display, and they needed any help they could get with their grades.

  That was when the doorbell rang. No doubt it was “hot guy,” and I was going to have to send him away.

  4

  I pushed aside disappointment as Halla sprinted to look out the peephole. Go with the flow, was my motto. I just hoped Jameson was still willing to help me when I put him off again. It’s not as if I was really interested in starting a relationship. Okay, maybe I was, but I shouldn’t be, not with my responsibilities.

  “It’s him!” Halla said in a loud whisper. “He’s back. Mario or Jameson, or whatever we’re going to call him.”

  “He’s Lily’s date,” Elsie said, her voice sounding loud in the sudden quiet.

  Everyone stared at me. “You’re going out with him?” Saffron gave a smile of approval. “Cool.”

  “No, not anymore.”

  Halla looked over from the door. “Should I open it?”

  “Is anyone with him?” Ruth asked.

  Good girl, I thought. “Let me get it, okay? Is the food ready?”

  Ruth nodded. “We have stuff for s’mores, too, for watching Nate today. Makay gets a kick out of how we roast marshmallows over the electric burners.” The girls murmured approval, but no one started for the stove.

  “Well?” Halla said. “Aren’t you going to answer it?” They waited expectantly, their faces bright, except Elsie, who rolled her eyes and ran toward the bedroom.

  Halla moved aside, and I pushed her toward the kitchen area before opening the door. I caught my breath just a little as I saw him. Dark jeans, a black and gray short-sleeved shirt with buttons and a collar, his hair combed back, his face newly shaven. His eyes seemed to pull me in, and for a long instant, I couldn’t speak.

  “You going to invite me in?” he asked.

  I shook my head. “We ran into a little problem.”

  “Well, we can talk about it while we put these away.” He handed me a heavy plastic sack and bent over for a box I hadn’t noticed. Plump yellow grapefruit filled the entire thing, and I peeked in the sack to reveal more of the same.

  “My mother was in town,” Jameson explained. “She doesn’t think I get enough fruit, and apparently my neighbor’s grapefruit trees were ready to harvest. I kept some, but I can’t eat more than one a day. Girls like this stuff, right?”

  He looked so anxious, I had to laugh. “Come on in.”

  The girls were all eating tuna salad, sitting or standing around the small table. “Anyone like grapefruit?” I asked.

  “Me,” chimed Saffron and Ruth, while Zoey and Bianca nodded. Only Halla wrinkled her small nose.

  “I knew they’d save me,” Jameson said.

  “From death by grapefruit.” Zoey snagged one of the fruits from Jameson’s box.

  He grinned. “Something like that.”

  “I need to lose a little weight anyway,” she said. “I think there’s such a thing as a grapefruit diet.”

  “Knock yourself out.” He set the box on the counter.

  “Thanks,” I told Jameson. “I’ll put as many as I can in the fridge later.”

  “Hey, Lily, I want to go to the art show. Can I?” Ruth stood by the stove with a bowl of tuna salad close to her face, her fork shoveling it in. Someday I’d get around to teaching her etiquette, but for now, her grammar was going to be my next focus.

  Halla nodded. “Me too.”

  “Not me.” Saffron made a face. “No offense, but I’ll wait to see their stuff when you bring it home. High schools make me claustrophobic.”

  Zoey smirked. “You think I’d go if I didn’t have to?” Saffron laughe
d, and the girls bumped fists.

  “Art show?” Jameson looked at me. “Is that what you were going to tell me?”

  I rummaged in the cupboard, searching for another bowl to put tuna salad in. “Yes. Zoey and Bianca have pottery in the art show tonight at the high school.”

  “It’s so lame,” Zoey added. “But we get extra credit if we go.”

  “I think my piece is kind of cool,” Bianca said in way that told me it meant a lot more to her than she was letting on.

  Jameson checked his watch. “I bet it is. What time does it start? Seven?” When she nodded, he said, “Mind if I tag along?”

  I stared. “You want to go?”

  “I love art.”

  Bianca’s grin spread across her thin face. “Sure, you can come. Do you know how to throw pots?”

  “Not exactly, but I’d like to learn.” He held up a finger. “Wait a minute, I’ve got to run down to my car and bring something up.”

  Ruth was already sticking a marshmallow on the end of a metal hanger. “So, this means it’s still a date, right?” she said when Jameson was gone.

  “With all of you along?” Saffron gave a snort. “I’d like to see him try to give her a goodnight kiss.”

  She had a point.

  Zoey rolled her eyes. “We’ll look the other way. Give me some of those.” She grabbed for the bag of marshmallows.

  “What happened to your grapefruit diet?” Ruth held them out of her reach.

  “Shut your stupid trap! And give ’em to me!”

  “Fine, but this time I ain’t cleaning up if you drop your marshmallows off the hanger.” Ruth relinquished the bag, but Halla grabbed it from Zoey’s hands.

  The girls were still involved in a friendly game of keep-away with the bag of marshmallows when Jameson returned carrying a picnic basket that looked like something from a classical movie.

  “I have chicken salad,” he called, setting the basket on the counter and pulling out a large plastic container. “And croissants.”

  “More salad?” Ruth moaned.

  Saffron let her fork clatter to the table as she abandoned her dinner. “Hey, at least it’s not tuna.”